The recruitment process is an opportunity for candidates to get to know the company and make sure they share its values, as well as for businesses to usher in talent that can bring knowledge, inspiration and new points of view to their teams. However, without key mechanisms to retain staff, it can quickly become both costly and tiresome. In fact, the estimated cost of employee turnover is £30,614 per vacant position – a hard pill to swallow.
However, talent strategy isn’t just about getting people to come in – it is about keeping them too. Without an end-to-end approach to creating opportunities for career progression, enterprises will lose out when it comes to their products and services,their culture and their bottom line. Not only that, but they will also miss out on the opportunity to gain essential skill sets needed for business success. This leaves them forced to invest time and monetary resources in restarting the recruiting process to fill the gaps in their talent strategy.
Ultimately, in this job market, companies who do this are giving their employees the freedom that they need to grow – this is important because career progression isn’t just about promoting people, it’s also about letting them try new skill sets, roles and responsibilities within the company.
Internal mobility and filling the gap
One under-used solution to combating this talent issue is internal mobility. This could help businesses save themselves from the implications of missing talent, by utilising the wonderful people they already have. This means a faster hiring process and even fresh perspectives on existing work and processes through cross-departmental collaboration.
This facilitation of horizontal and vertical employee mobility can in turn aid with employee retention, as people are encouraged to see a long-term future at the company – somewhere that is willing to make an investment into their career and encourage them as they reinvent themselves over time.
Clearing a pathway for your workforce
Of course, this is easier said than done. Enterprises need to invest in a standardised process that lets workers have the freedom they need to explore new roles, without causing disruption to the work being done. This means taking a three-pronged approach to their strategy:
Firstly, organisations need to map out what skills they want or need in the company and which department needs them the most. For example, as the functions of departments continue to overlap, a company might find that they need to invest in upskilling someone from finance who can go into the HR team and offer their knowledge of budget creation so that the HR department can make better decisions.
Then, companies need to match this need with their existing employees by bridging the gap between their learning and knowledge with actionable opportunities. The first step to doing this is making sure you actually have accurate information about your employees and what their skills and interests are, so that you can pair them accurately. For example, if you have a finance executive who has demonstrated an interest in people issues – using the example above – you can match them to that skill need.
Finally, businesses need to factor in the kinds of goals they want their workers to hit in their new role and in what time period. That means putting the right people and mechanisms in place to oversee and support each individual’s growth. It’s not just about getting opportunities, but also making sure there are frameworks to ensure the success and happiness of each employee. So outlining what success looks like at 3 months, 6 months and 1 year, and also identifying who will be managing this employee’s path, is crucial.
With these three steps, businesses can help their employees become truly agile across the business. This will help not just create opportunities for business growth, but employee development and engagement too. This way, no business has to miss out on utilising their star performers.
